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Now this is something different...
https://8mmforumworldwide.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1797		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Jeff Missinne [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 2:25 am ]
Post subject:  Now this is something different...
These photos are courtesy of Scott MacGillivray of the Sons of the Desert "Boston Brats," reposted here with his permission.

Scott recently came across a very unusual 8mm film from the late 40's or early 50's, accompanied by sound on disc. The film and disc set was made by Official, and designed for a short-lived double-system 8mm sound projector called a Movie Sound 8. Assuming that's a 200-ft. 8mm reel in the package, the disc would appear to be 10 inches in diameter, and is labeled for 33 1/3 rpm playback.

This is a film with narration, so the "sync" would not be all that critical; but it's hard to imagine how well the "Musical Revues" (Soundies) or cartoons might have worked.

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Author:  Chris Smith [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Thanks for sharing that, Jeff--completely fascinating and the first time I ever came across such a thing.
Author:  Jeff Missinne [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 1:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Well, of course there were the Americom 8mm films in the 60's, which came with a flexible disc record for sound (and were also subtitled for silent showing) but this would appear to pre-date them by about 15 years.

In the early 30's, Alexander Victor of Victor Animatographs marketed a double-system 16mm projector with an 800' capacity, attached to a vertical turntable that played the same 16-inch Vitaphone-type discs the movie theatres used. Pathe' and probably other companies rented and sold film and disc sets for it. A "lost" Bing Crosby short was restored a few years ago from such a set.
Author:  Mike O'Regan [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Fascinating.

That Victor 16mm machine sounds interesting too. Has anyone come across one?
Author:  Jeff Missinne [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 2:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Not sure, but here's a photo of one. This one appears to have 400' reel capacity; I believe the 800' reel arms were offered as an accessory, as they were for the silent model as well. The vertical turntable was designed to make the machine as compact as possible. Mr. Victor was nothing if not ingenious!

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Author:  Mike O'Regan [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 4:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Wow! That I had not seen before.

Thanks for the pic.
:cool:
Author:  Chris Smith [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
My brain finally engaged and I recalled the Movie Sound 8 ad I posted here back in 2012. They were plugging Castle Films in this ad and obviously Official decided to get into the act as well.

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Author:  Jeff Missinne [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Wonder if Official got into the act instead of, rather than in addition to, Castle? Scott's book, the "Bible" of Castle Films, mentions nothing about any special disc editions for the Movie Sound 8. Of course it could very well be that Official (and Castle?) licensed their products to the MS-8 people, and the film-and-disc sets were manufactured and sold by them rather than the original distributor. (Something similar to the major studios' licensing deals with RCA Selectavision decades later...)

Wonder if there'll ever be any sort of guidebook to the home movie era in general. Scott has Castle covered; Ben Model's book "Accidentally Preserved" deals with the toy-film makers; and Blackhawk sure deserves a book. But there's still Official, Pictorial, HFE, Nu-Art, Gutlohn/Library Films, Sterling, Post, Commonwealth, NTA and on and on. There are of course web pages that contain parts of the story (Robbie's Reels and others); the hurdle is in collating it.
Author:  Mike O'Regan [ Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Now this is something different...
Blackhawk certainly does deserve a book. I believe the late John Black was working on one when he passed away. I wonder if anyone was inspired to carry on his task.
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